It's A Small World

Now if you were to ask a 40 year old what their favorite ride in Magic Kingdom would be I truly am curious as to what their answer would be. I would venture to say that Small World is not going to make the top ten.  I guess I would be one of those outliers in the data collected.  For me, A Small World holds the magic of Disney; each time I ride, I feel the magic.  Maybe it’s the pristine figures and paintings or maybe it’s the music that will stay in my head for hours afterward.

Recently, my husband and I have been researching Walt Disney.  We found a documentary about his trip to South America in 1941 that was paid for by our government.  He was able to take several member of his art department on this trip.  One of which was Mary Blair.  She was one of the designers of Small World and also the artist behind the mural in the Contemporary Resort.  Throughout this ride you are taken to several different countries and cultures.  Ms. Blair shows her artistic ability and design skills in every aspect. 

I am always so impressed each time by how bright and vibrant the colors are.  On one particular occasion it was very evident that they had just repainted many of the statues and figures.  We happen to be in a boat with several teenagers.  It wasn't long until the teens decided to start throwing coins at the figures and signs in the ride.  This made me so angry.  My husband wasn't going to stand by and let the teens caused damage so he spoke up and asked if they thought it was funny enough to go talk to security after the ride was over.  Needless to say we had a very quiet ride after that. 

My husband does not feel the enthusiasm as I do for Small World.  In fact, I may be riding this all by myself in the near future as he has said that “he just can’t do it anymore”.  HA!

Please click the link below to find out more about It’s A Small World. 

http://allears.net/tp/mk/mk_small.htm

POP Century Resort

We chose to stay here based upon VALUE.  We certainly enjoyed the moderate and deluxe hotels we visited in the past but we wanted to go cheap and save some money. When we visited this resort it was Martin Luther King holiday weekend in 2012 and we knew it would be busy.  However, we really wanted to stay at a new resort and try something different. 

I loved driving up the long driveway with the nostalgic type signs.  It was very reminiscent of times gone by. However, I lost my enthusiasm as we parked our car and walked into the lobby.  Now, mind you we had just had our first visit to Disney as a family by staying at Fort Wilderness Lodge.  Oh my, what a difference.  Customer service was good. We got our room key and headed straight there.  The lobby in the value resorts seem to just be an endless hallway with a long counter and many check-in spots.   The walls were sparsely decorated and really lacked the details you find in the moderate and deluxe level resorts. 

It was neat to go by the pool and see people swimming. ( I think it was maybe 40 degrees) We stayed in the building that had Mowgli and Baloo outside.  We had fun with our little guy standing next to Mowgli and taking pictures.  He was so cute!

We went straight to our room and bedded down for the night.

The next morning we got up early to head into the parks.  We had some serious issues with the lock on our door.  When we closed the door and thought that it locked we were able to just push it open from the outside.  Long story short we dealt with this door issue all weekend.  Maintenance told us that the locks didn't work right in this hotel because of the high humidity levels.  Even with it being on the colder side the room never seemed to be without high moisture content in the room, almost as if someone had left the hot shower on in the room all day.  (He also mentioned that Caribbean Beach also had similar issues) We dealt with this so much throughout this weekend.  We think maintenance came to us at least 3 times this weekend.  Even after changing out the entire lock-set the issue was still not resolved and continued to not lock.  Most times we were either waiting to go to bed or go into the parks. It was so frustrating!

We did not enjoy the Food Court as much as other resorts.  It was very busy and very loud.  Food was okay at best.  Of course we mainly used the food court for our refillable coffee mugs each morning.

Due to the size of the resort and the clientele of the resort that look to utilize the bus transportation regularly we found that this was not in our best interest.  One evening in EPCOT we waited through 3 bus pick up cycles only to think that we thought we were ready to board only to have someone with a scooter come up (along with his party of 12) and supersede our place in line. 

More than likely we will never stay here again.  

For more information see the following links:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/pop-century-resort/

http://allears.net/acc/faq_pop.htm

Phineas and Ferb Drink at EPCOT - The Doofenslurper!

We found a great little drink for our Phineas and Ferb enthusiast.  

This drink is found in a couple of locations throughout EPCOT.  We chose to visit the Fife and Drum in America because we knew our little man would enjoy the flavor they were serving.  He did indeed enjoy the flavor and the fact that the infamous Doofenshmirtz was on the beeker.  Please go to the link below to find the location that is right for you.  We love the Phineas and Ferb World Showcase Adventures.  That is another post though. 

Misty

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/02/have-you-tried-the-doofenslurper/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eVPCsxKd9Y

Best Beers @ Epcot

Mexico - Dos Equis
Norway - Einstok White Ale
China - Tsing Tao Pure Draft
African Outpost - Safari Amber
Germany - Schöfferhofer Weizen
Italy - Moretti
The American Adventure - Sam Adams
Japan - Sapporo Draft
Morocco - Casa
France - Kronenbourg 1664
United Kingdom - Guiness
Canada - Labatt Blue

For more information found the following site with good information

http://www.partythroughtheparks.com/epcot_navigation/

Another great video from The DIS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBd1Urrr8ug

WDW Resorts

Coming Soon!

Animal Kingdom

Coming Soon!

Disney Hollywood Studios

Coming Soon!

Magic Kingdom

Coming Soon!

EPCOT

Coming Soon!

Best Corndog Ever!!!

On one of our first visits to MK we stopped at Westward Ho in Frontierland to grab a quick snack and drink.  We decided on a corn dog because they are super easy to eat while on the go.  WOW!  This is by far the best Corn Dog I have ever had! I have read other blogs about Disney Corn Dogs at Casey’s Corner on Main Street.  While I am sure that these are the same “dogs” I highly recommend Westward Ho as it has always been a quick service for us and always FRESH! I would also recommend this visit when it is still early in the day as Frontierland is generally less busy in this area.  Many times we have sat down on the porch across the street next to Country Bears. This is a great place to eat our snack and people watch.  (It’s also a great place to hide out from the rain!)

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/magic-kingdom/westward-ho/